Methane is the main constituent of natural gas. In nature, methane oxidizes to methanol at room temperature via methane monooxygenase enzymes that have iron-oxygen or copper-oxygen sites. The electrochemical oxidation of methane is thermodynamically favored, and thus attempts have been made to reproduce the reactivity of methane monooxygenase enzymes using a variety of electrochemical techniques. The direct oxidation of methane at low temperatures (e.g., from about 60° C. to about 150° C.) has been demonstrated with electrode systems utilizing acid electrolytes or polyelectrolytes. However, these systems exhibit extremely slow electrode kinetics at room temperature. The replication of the efficiency of nature's enzymatic oxidation of methane has proven to be challenging and difficult, especially using electrochemistry.